Nimule residents raise alarm over alleged land grabbing

Residents of the border town of Nimule in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria state have raised concerns over alleged land grabbing, accusing some members of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) of occupying ancestral land and forcing local residents from their property.

The concerns were raised on Tuesday during a monthly forum on women’s rights to land and property organised by the Women’s Foundation for Humanity.

Andua Florence, a Nimule resident, told Radio Tamazuj that some army personnel had allegedly occupied her family’s land. She said her case was before the High Court in Nimule but that she was still waiting for a ruling.

“My case started from the B-court, then went to the county court, and finally the county court directed me to transfer it to the High Court,” Florence said. “When my case was transferred to the High Court, I had to get a lawyer.”

Florence said she had spent about 6 million South Sudanese pounds pursuing the case and was waiting for the court to deliver its ruling.

“This is my grandfather’s place, and we are the landowners of this place,” she said. “We are currently the seventh generation on that piece of land.”

Florence alleged that the people occupying the land are soldiers who claimed to have settled there in the 1990s.

She said the land was occupied while she was in Uganda as a refugee and that she had struggled to reclaim it since returning.

Florence said several land disputes in Nimule had reached the High Court, with some cases remaining there for nearly a year without a ruling. She said the lengthy legal process had imposed a financial burden on families pursuing their claims.

Grace Juan, a female chief in Nimule, echoed the concerns, saying many residents are being forced from their land.

Dorothy Drabuga, founder and executive director of the Women’s Foundation for Humanity, said land grabbing and inheritance rights were among the issues discussed during the monthly forum.

“We had a meeting with a women’s group. It is a monthly forum where we look at the challenges affecting women in Nimule, especially land rights and the right of inheritance,” Drabuga said.

Drabuga said some land disputes had moved through several levels of the court system and were now before the High Court, where the parties had hired lawyers.

“These cases have been going on for almost a year,” she said, adding that some people summoned to court had failed to appear.

Drabuga said some of the disputes involved ancestral land where generations of families had lived and buried relatives.

“This is ancestral land where the parents and grandparents have been buried, but somebody from another state is claiming that this land belongs to him or to them,” she said.

Drabuga said she is aware of at least five such cases before the High Court.

“There are many. So far, the ones I am aware of are five,” she said.

She said the failure of some parties to attend court had contributed to delays, but expressed hope that they would appear at upcoming hearings.

South Sudan has struggled with land disputes and competing claims over property, particularly in urban and border areas, where population movements and displacement have complicated land ownership.